Peanut butter, a perfect pairing

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I’ve talked before about my intense love of chocolate, but I don’t know that I have ever discussed my deep affection for peanut butter. Incidentally, I came up with this column idea while dipping mini Hershey bars into Skippy Natural Creamy Peanut Butter.

While the creamy goodness of pasted peanuts gets a big smile from this girl, it will never triumph over chocolate, just so we are clear on that.

But peanut butter is so darn versatile, and pairs so well with chocolate, and many other things, too. It is the perfect food partner really.

I know this next example may not be appealing to most, but bear with me. Since I was a child, one of my favorite combinations is a peanut butter, bread and butter, pickle, and mustard sandwich. And you know what, Miracle Whip is really good in place of the mustard sometimes.

It sounds awful, I know, but that tasty treat has been with me for most of my life. I have no idea how or why that was even discovered, but it was. And as I said, it has been a staple in my nutritional arsenal since I was a child.

If one has peanut butter, there will be no shortage of food for your belly. You may get sick of it, but it is actually a good thing for you, and fairly inexpensive, too.

That ticks a lot of boxes.

Hungry for a snack but just don’t know what? A spoonful of peanut butter will tide one over until dinner. Need a bit more sustenance from that apple or those carrots? Again, add a dollop of peanut butter. And it’s not too bad joined with a banana on a sandwich, either. And it should go without saying, but the peanut butter and jelly sandwich is just about perfect, no matter the time of day or your time of life.

I’ve seen this Internet meme a time or two that reads, “If someone ever tells you that you are putting too much peanut butter on your bread, stop talking to them. You don’t need that kind of negativity in your life.”

I agree.

According to the National Peanut Board, peanut butter’s birth in the United States is attributed to Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (the cereal guy) in 1895. It was introduced to the masses in 1904 at the St. Louis World’s Fair.

The website goes on to say that peanuts and its edible derivatives are very popular in our country, with Americans eating about six pounds of peanuts/peanut products each year. And of all the edible things made from peanuts, as well as the peanuts themselves, peanut butter accounts for about half of all the edible peanut products yearly.

Peanut butter is just perfect on so many levels (and quite an effective lure to get one’s dog to take some dreaded medicine).

My grandma loved peanut butter, and while it was kind of gross to me at the time, I now remember her peanut-butter-smeared home with fondness. She would often dip into that red-capped jar and leave little smudges of the peanut paste on the fridge door, the light switch in the kitchen, the TV remote – you get the idea. All those peanut butter smears are part of the memories, along with her constantly losing her dentures and enlisting the help of us grandkids to locate them (they were usually in the pocket of her house coat and obscured by a tissue, which she likely had in her pocket to wipe away a peanut butter smear somewhere).

This little tribute to peanut butter is through. I just had to get it out there, because if we can’t appreciate all those little trappings of life, like peanut butter, we don’t much stand a chance of finding any enduring happiness.

Reach Angela Shepherd at 937-393-3456, ext. 1681, or on Twitter @wordyshepherd.

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By Angela Shepherd

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